Pavel Pepperstein, The Secret Drawings of Jacqueline Kennedy

ADAA, The Art Show

The Secret Drawings of Jacqueline Kennedy
ADAA The Art Show March 1-5, 2017
Park Avenue Armory at 67th St.

Julie Saul Gallery is excited to present the first solo show in the U.S. of Pavel Pepperstein (born Moscow, 1966) with a thematic exhibition of new works especially created for our booth entitled The Secret Drawings of Jacqueline Kennedy. Representing the “post conceptual” generation of artists following Ilya Kabakov and his circle, Pepperstein is also a writer and performer. For his American debut Pepperstein has created a story in which a cache of drawings are discovered in a house where Lee Harvey Oswald previously lived.

The extensive text associated with the series is entitled The Shadow of the Scorpion a confessional of her psychological state as if written by Jackie following the death of Onassis.The package labeled “my secret drawings”, contains works all signed by the hand of “Jacqueline O” and dated between 1966-73. The numerous works on paper are all rendered in Pepperstein’s characteristic eclectic style with watercolor and gouache imagery and texts. Some of the subjects include Maria Callas, John Kennedy, Lee Harvey and Marina Oswald, Onassis, and of course Jackie herself. The booth will also include a magnificent white gown “designed by Jackie O” and painted by Pepperstein. Pepperstein continues his explanation of the discovery in Minsk to explain that he along with “an expert panel”, are trying to determine who actually made them. A brochure with several illustrations, and an essay by noted Russian philosopher and art critic Boris Groys will be available at the ADAA booth and following the fair.

This new body of work reflects the artist’s ongoing themes of Russian cosmism, global politics, history, eroticism and visual references ranging from Suprematism to American comics and gangster films.The tone of Pepperstein’s work ranges from humorous, playful and satirical to deadly serious.

Pepperstein was included in the 2011 Ostalgia show at the New Museum curated by Massimiliano Gioni, and represented Russia in their pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009. He is considered Russia’s leading artist of his generation and the protégé of Ilya Kabakov, and his father Victor Pivovarov. His work is currently on view at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in a group show entitled Kollektsia! Contemporary Art in the USSR and Russia, 1950-2000, a major donation.He will have a second exhibition opening in spring 2017 at the Kunsthaus Zug entitled The Resurrection of Pablo Picasso in the Year 3111.

Pepperstein has had solo exhibitions at the Kunstmuseum, Basel,Kunsthaus Zug, Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf, Pace London, Regina Gallery, Moscow and London, Kaufman Gallery, Zurich and many other European venues. He was awarded the annual Kandinsky Prize (sponsored by Deutsche Bank AF and Art Chronika) in 2014 that includes a cash award of 40,000 euro for a project called Holy Politics.